Lovell meet good one for Buffs

by nathan oster

Greybull High School had a breakout meet Saturday in Lovell, recording 25 personal-best performances en route to a seventh-place finish in the boys division and a ninth-place finish in the girls division.

The big news of the day was the effort of the boys 400-meter relay team, which became the team’s first automatic state qualifier. The foursome of Dylan Brenner, Calder Forcella, Kyler Flock and Alex Hebb ran a 46.68, which was good for first place.

Coach Jeff Sukut said a combination of factors contributed to the team’s success.

“It was a nice day, no wind, so conditions were ideal,” he said. “And their handoffs were really good. It’s hard to get splits on the 4×1, but I assume all their times were a little quicker due to the fact that everyone seemed to have a good day for us.”

The Buffs didn’t score a lot of team points in either division. Aside from the winning relay, the Buffs got a fourth from Wyatt Good in the 300-meter hurdles; a sixth from Calder Forcella in the 200 meters, a fourth by Forcella and a sixth by Logan Jensen in the discus, and a sixth from Kyler Flock in the 100 meters.

Lovell, with 127 points, won the boys division.

McKenna Powers accounted for all 11 of Greybull’s points in the girls division, earning eight with a second-place finish in the 800 meters and single points for sixth-place finishes in her other three events, the triple jump, long jump and 400 meters.

Thermopolis took the girls crown with 110 points.

Sukut said that because track is such an individual sport, the 25 personal bests were something to celebrate. One by one, he listed them:

* Kyler Flock cut time in the 100 meters.

* Wyatt Nielson shaved one-half second off his time in the 110 hurdles, running a 20.3.

* Jarrod Johnson shaved five seconds off his best time in the 1,600 and also ran a personal best in the 800.

* Forcella cut one-tenth of a second off his best time in the 200. Also in that event, Gerald Fulkerson cut 1.5 seconds.

* Flock, Keegan Jenness and Ryan Sylvester all set personal records in the 400 meters.

* In the throwing events, Calder Forcella notched his best throw of the season in the discus, while Nicholas Murdoch did the same in the shotput. Murdoch topped his previous best by about 1 1/2 feet.

* In the long jump, Cesar Sosa went 1 1/2 feet further than ever before.

Switching to the girls, Sukut noted:

* McKenzie Bollig, Sydney Eckman and Brittney Fink all improved by about a second in the 200 meters.

* Powers didn’t set a personal record, but cut a full second with her best time of the season in the 400 meters. She is also closing in on her all-time best in the 800 meters, having trimmed 12 seconds from her previous season best in a second-place effort in Lovell.

* Eckman “cut a full second off her best open 400 time,” said Sukut, noting she ran a 68.42.

* Annie McBride improved by 4 feet, 6 inches in the discus, throwing 54-6. She also PR’d in the shot put, throwing 20-4, which was a full 2 feet further than her previous record.

* In the jumping events, Eckman set a PR in the long jump and Mackenzie Bollig did the same in the triple jump. In both cases, they improved by about a foot.

“It was a great meet for us,” said Sukut. “The weather was good. Wasn’t hot or cold; it was just right. I think we’re just getting into better conditioning, maybe starting to peak a little bit.”

So far, the weather has been anything but conducive to track. The only silver lining is that every school in the state must deal with it. “It seems winter has stretched into spring, and it is tough to train,” Sukut said. “In the past, we’ve been able to use the pool (on bad weather days) and that’s been nice. But with that being gone, I don’t like to take the kids out on bad days because if you do, you risk injuries. And there’s only so much you can do indoors.”

The Buffs will compete Friday in Thermopolis, with action starting at 1 p.m.

“Historically we’ve had good performances on that track,” said Sukut. “Hopefully we can build on what we did in Lovell.”